| 摘要 |
A semiconductor sensing element (124) is mounted in a sterilization chamber (1). The composition of the sensor is selected such that one of its electrical characteristics, for example, capacitance or resistance, changes with concentration of a chemical sterilant within the chamber in real-time. A receiving unit (126) monitors the solid-state sensing element and stores a baseline electrical characteristic value corresponding to a baseline concentration of the sterilant at a first set of values of environmental parameters, for example, temperature, pressure, relative humidity, air-flow velocity, an oxidizing substance concentration, and combinations of these. The receiving unit compares changes in the real-time semiconductor sensing element electrical characteristic with the baseline characteristic value to provide a real-time indication of sterilant concentration. A sterilizer control (12) controls a concentration of sterilant in the sterilization chamber and other sterilization system parameters in accordance with the real-time sterilant concentration from the receiving unit. When one or more of the environmental parameters change, the sterilizer control causes the receiving unit to change the baseline electrical characteristic value to one corresponding to a new baseline sterilant concentration value for the new set of environmental parameters.
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